I don't think those are public housing?? Those are private housing developed by private developers and you can see they should cost more than low-cost apartments.

In Malaysia, there are not many government-owned housing estate, but instead, Malaysian law states that private developers have the obligation to build a percentage of low-cost housing estates for every piece of real estate they develop. The low-cost estates do not have to be in the same neighbourhood with the upper class estates but the developers have to fulfill their responsibilities. The government does not really own the land/ buildings.

Of course, the low-cost housing system in Malaysia has its flaw too...

Monday, 10 May 2004Low interest in distant low-cost housing units

The location of low-cost units is seen as a major reason for the lack of interest among house buyers. Another big factor is the issue of squatters. FOONG PEK YEE raises the curtain on the problem.

THE new owner of a RM1mil semi-detached house in Petaling Jaya became worried when told that the Selangor government had made it compulsory for any housing project of at least 10 acres to comprise 20% low-cost units and 20% medium-cost ones.

Her fears are not all that unfounded.

The presence of the cheap housing in a prime area, particularly badly maintained low-cost flats, is not only an eyesore but depresses property prices in its vicinity.

On the other hand, poor location of low-cost houses has resulted in 9,816 unsold units nationwide, including 2,423 in Selangor.

“It does not make sense in building cheap houses on prime land,” said one political analyst.

“The government should be pragmatic and come up with a cheap and efficient public transport network linking low-cost housing areas to the big towns or cities where jobs are available.”

Savings from acquiring cheaper land could be used to build bigger low-cost houses and better facilities instead of having cramped quarters on prime land, he rationalised.

While it is inconceivable that low-cost flats will come up in such areas as Bukit Damansara, Bukit Tunku, Bandar Utama and Sri Hartamas in the Klang Valley, the question of where to site affordable housing arises – bearing in mind land shortage and rising costs.

Even the non-upmarket areas in the fringes of Kuala Lumpur, such as Gombak, Sentul and Cheras, are becoming “too expensive” for building low-cost units.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting was reported as saying recently that low-medium cost homes, at slightly more than RM42,000, would be built in better locations and the government would “ find ways” to help the poor buy these units.

So who actually gets to buy these affordable units?

Commonly, units priced between RM50,000 and RM60,000 are snapped up before a project launch by those with the “right connections” for a quick re-sale or for rental later.

“Many low-cost houses in Puchong, Serdang and Cheras were taken up this way,” said an assemblyman.

Judging from the massive renovation of some low-cost units, the owners are unlikely to be poor.

The earning potential of a low-cost unit is indeed impressive if it is in a good location. A bachelor who invested in a new low-cost flat near Seremban is confident of renting it out to college students.

Another factor that has aggravated the low-cost housing problem in the country is the influx of foreign workers.

Genuine low-cost house buyers have been “driven out” of their homes by the huge demand in cheap accommodation by foreign workers.

According to a shop owner in Shah Alam, many of the nearby low-cost flats have been rented out to factory owners who cram 10 or more foreign workers per unit.

He claimed that some of the residents in the area and local tenants in the low-cost units had moved out because of an increase in cases of break-ins and thefts.

“The situation has become unbearable,” said the shop owner.

With the high demand for cheap accommodation for local and foreign workers, factory owners are eyeing unsold units in non-strategic locations.

“These units can be turned into hostels. Distance is not a problem because factories provide transport for their workers,” said a politician.

“It’s better than leaving these units vacant,” he added in commenting on a recent proposal by Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo to let the rich buy unsold low-cost units in the state.

Whether building more low-cost houses will eventually help to achieve a zero-squatter population is debatable.

In the late 1990s, the government had problems finding tenants for its low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur at a rental of RM124 a month.

Some 34,000 of the 55,000 units under the government's flat-for-rent scheme are in Kuala Lumpur, which tops the list of states with squatter problems.

To make it more attractive, for squatters in particular, the government recently proposed a rent-to-buy scheme where the tenants could convert their rentals into down payment after a while.

Such a proposal is based on the assumption that the poor cannot even afford the down payment.

The lukewarm response to the 600sq ft three-room unit with two bathrooms and a stone's throw away from Embassy Row in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, may have something to do with compensation.

Squatters have been compensated in monetary terms or free low-cost flats in the same area for making way for development.

A Kampung Kerinchi squatter who received an offer to buy a low-cost house in Sungai Buloh said: “ I will not qualify for compensation if I accept this offer.”

He admitted to only renting a squatter house but said the owner had promised to include his name in the “squatter registration list” that entitles him to compensation if and when he has to move out because of development.

Illegal colonies they may be but many squatters come with piped water and electricity supply –thanks to politicians who defended this irony on humanitarian grounds.

Said a Selangor assemblyman: “Squatter settlements are better than some low-cost flats. The people can park their vehicles inside the compound, rear poultry, and plant vegetables. Flat dwellers face problems ranging from low water pressure to leaky roofs.”

In the last two decades, the original intention of the government’s low-cost housing programme – to provide affordable shelter to the poor, mostly village folk who migrated to urban areas – has been altered because of current economic factors.

Low-cost housing has been turned into rented hostels by colleges and factories.

If the rent-to-buy scheme is implemented, owners will find it more difficult to rent out their low-cost units in future. -STAR-

But sometimes, the conditions living there is better compared to Hong Kong's housing estates during the 1980s

More Clichy

"A lot of people ain't happy you can tell by their ways; It's growin tense okay, I can smell it today; Tenement buildings house the next killers; While rich diplomats, are purchasin their next villas" -Riot Akt by Guru (Gangstarr)

A little off-topic but images of the people of Clichy. They share the same story as the Puerto Ricans in New York, Turkish in London, Maoris in Auckland or Filipinos in Hong Kong.

I wouldn't say the Turkish community in London is reknowned for any sort of particular discrimination or trouble

Perhaps you're thinking of the Turkish in Germany?

The poorest and worst educated Londoners are the Bangladeshis in their self-imposed ghettos in Central London like Brick Lane and Somers Town. Despite their poverty and lack of opportunities they haven't really been involved in any trouble.

Our "Race Riots" were 20 years ago in Afro-Caribbean neighbourhoods like Brixton and Tottenham.

I wouldn't say the Turkish community in London is reknowned for any sort of particular discrimination or trouble

Perhaps you're thinking of the Turkish in Germany?

The poorest and worst educated Londoners are the Bangladeshis in their self-imposed ghettos in Central London like Brick Lane and Somers Town. Despite their poverty and lack of opportunities they haven't really been involved in any trouble.

Our "Race Riots" were 20 years ago in Afro-Caribbean neighbourhoods like Brixton and Tottenham.

I think the clichy may be nicer than the HK ones( in the 80's at least as you pointed out - it's obviously not the case now)

but for architecture to work it also has to contextualize specially in a social cultural sense.

peoples in asia in general have a very different sense of space, so living in close quarters makes it a little bit more tolerable.

also has to do with expectations as with france being a leading light, these people definitely are quite different from the France one pictures in their mind when you think of the country, as new frenchmen the concitions while better than hk is relative.

I'm just curious how public housing in most Asian countries became a successful especially in Singapore while most in Europe or The United States were failure and most of them ended up being demolished.

Hong Kong's public housing estates are smaller in space compared to those in Europe or the US but the crime rate there is very low.

In singapore, people treat thier flats like their castle. They can decorate to a certain extent that the house looks more like a condo unit. Basiaclly there are6 types of flats. 1 room, 2 rooms(they dont build the 1 and 2 room flats anymore), 3 rooms, 4 rooms, 5 rooms, or Studio apartment. They're quite spacious and they include a living room, 2 toliets, a kitchen and if you're lucky, you might even get a balcany! The tiles in the kicthen and toliet are provided for you as well as the toliet bowls and shower. You can always check the Housing and Development Board at www.hdb.gov.sg for more info.